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First Wii Mod Chip Shipping Out

Posted by Zonk on from the enjoy-your-indie-games-with-waggle dept.

Via Ars Technica's Opposable Thumbs blog, and their commentary on the device, a review of the first Wii mod chip at the MaxConsole site. The review offers step-by-step instructions for putting it in place, and then rates the resulting options opened up by the device. Most interestingly the chip is apparently updateable via a DVD, allowing for new functionality to be released for as time goes on. At $50 and with just a little soldering to get in place, the Wii CycloWhiz sounds like a great deal for anyone looking to do some outside-the-box thinking with Nintendo's console.

2 of 58 comments (clear)

  1. No homebrew though. by noretsa · · Score: 5, Informative

    From the article it sounds like this hack is very similar to the XBox360 DVD firmware hack in that it tricks the system into thinking the disc is a different type than it really is (pressed as opposed to DVD-R). However, the executables are still signed and the only thing this enables is "back ups" aka piracy.

    This strategy will not enable custom user applications which is what a lot of us really want. However, this is definitely a step in the right direction. Even though the executables are signed, it is likely that the data on DVDs is unencrypted. Maybe by modifying this data a more effective exploit can be found?

  2. Fact check: summary, articles all inaccurate by nxtw · · Score: 5, Informative

    - The Wiinja chip was announced first.
    - No chip is actually shipping yet to end users -- CycloWiz has however been shipped for review to MaxConsole. Foundmy lists it as being in stock starting Thursday.
    - The CycloWiz appears to be selling for around $40, not $50.
    - The CycloWiz (NOT CychloWiz) is NOT firmware upgradeable.
    - The WiiKey is reportedly firmware upgradeable.

    The Wiinja requires wires to older it in, while the CycloWiz has a "quicksolder" interface that lets you directly solder the chip to the motherboard. (I think I'd prefer wires -- but you can still use wires with the quicksolder interface.)
    The WiiKey supports both, apparently -- I assume this means that you can solder the chip using wires if you prefer and that the chip facilitates this easily by having pads for soldering wires directly.